diff --git a/helm-prereqs/setup.sh b/helm-prereqs/setup.sh
index 8d84de19d7..498c77e888 100755
--- a/helm-prereqs/setup.sh
+++ b/helm-prereqs/setup.sh
@@ -630,12 +630,12 @@ _TEMPORAL_TLS="--tls-cert-path /var/secrets/temporal/certs/server-interservice/t
     --tls-ca-path /var/secrets/temporal/certs/server-interservice/ca.crt \
     --tls-server-name interservice.server.temporal.local"
 kubectl exec -n temporal deploy/temporal-admintools -- \
-    sh -c "temporal operator namespace create -n cloud --address ${_TEMPORAL_ADDR} ${_TEMPORAL_TLS}" 2>/dev/null || true
+    sh -c "temporal operator namespace create -n cloud --retention 72h --address ${_TEMPORAL_ADDR} ${_TEMPORAL_TLS}" 2>/dev/null || true
 kubectl exec -n temporal deploy/temporal-admintools -- \
-    sh -c "temporal operator namespace create -n site --address ${_TEMPORAL_ADDR} ${_TEMPORAL_TLS}" 2>/dev/null || true
+    sh -c "temporal operator namespace create -n site --retention 72h --address ${_TEMPORAL_ADDR} ${_TEMPORAL_TLS}" 2>/dev/null || true
 # flow Temporal namespace — required by NICo Flow workers; pod panics on startup if absent.
 kubectl exec -n temporal deploy/temporal-admintools -- \
-    sh -c "temporal operator namespace create -n flow --address ${_TEMPORAL_ADDR} ${_TEMPORAL_TLS}" 2>/dev/null || true
+    sh -c "temporal operator namespace create -n flow --retention 72h --address ${_TEMPORAL_ADDR} ${_TEMPORAL_TLS}" 2>/dev/null || true
 echo "Temporal namespaces ready"
 
 _SETUP_PHASE="[7g/7] NICo REST helm chart"
@@ -763,7 +763,7 @@ _TEMPORAL_TLS="--tls-cert-path /var/secrets/temporal/certs/server-interservice/t
     --tls-ca-path /var/secrets/temporal/certs/server-interservice/ca.crt \
     --tls-server-name interservice.server.temporal.local"
 kubectl exec -n temporal deploy/temporal-admintools -- \
-    sh -c "temporal operator namespace create -n '${NICO_SITE_UUID}' --address ${_TEMPORAL_ADDR} ${_TEMPORAL_TLS}" 2>/dev/null || true
+    sh -c "temporal operator namespace create -n '${NICO_SITE_UUID}' --retention 72h --address ${_TEMPORAL_ADDR} ${_TEMPORAL_TLS}" 2>/dev/null || true
 echo "Temporal namespace ready"
 
 # FLOW_GRPC_ENABLED toggles the site-agent's Flow gRPC client (see